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Zack Rearick
Zachary Taylor Rearick is the son of Lisa Rearick and John Rearick. He is currently a student at Georgia State University, where he is working on earning his doctoral degree in Literary Studies. He is also an English instructor. Most importantly, Zack is the groom and will be marrying Elisha McLaughlin on May 21, 2016. Early Life Zack was born in November of 1986 in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he spent the remainder of his childhood, adolescence, and undergraduate career. Queen City represent. He was an unusually adorable child, well loved by all in his cul-de-sac. His childhood interests included dinosaurs, Jurassic Park, cereal, R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books, and National Geographic's Really Wild Animals. When he became an adolescent, Zack traded in his symmetrical features and model-level hair for Hawaiian shirts and bad-movie sleepovers. His love of dinosaurs waned, and a new raison d'etre emerged: professional wrestling. Zack became an excessively devoted fan of sports entertainment, ignoring "normal" activities like making friends and awkwardly flirting with awkward girls for the thrill of cheering on wrestlers like Molly Holly, Mick Foley, and Kurt Angle. This trend (both the wrestling and the friendless parts) continued through most of high school, although his love of wrestling was joined by equally strong affinities for rap music and basketball. Yet there was something that he fell in love with early in his sophomore year that was to remain unrivaled in his heart for his entire life (not counting Elisha, of course): literature. The discovery of Ariel, Sylvia Plath's final book of poems, ignited a passion for reading and talking about literature that would shape the course of his life. You'll notice that nothing has been said thus far about any of his inter-personal relationships or interactions with other human beings. There had been, thus far, nothing worth talking about. Sorry, Dwayne. College Career (2005-2011) Upon graduating from David Butler High School, Zack began pursuing degrees in English and Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He spent most of his time reading books and involving himself in a wide array of activities to show support for his alma mater, such as attending Charlotte 49er sporting events and other university-sponsored events. He was the co-leader of Charlotte sports fandom (an actual, real life thing), won the fight song singing contest, had his car (the Ninermobile) in the homecoming parade multiple times, invented the Whiteboard (a tradition that still lives on to this day), helped popularized the sning of the the new Fight Song during games, and generally made a name for himself as one of the university's premiere supporters. He loved every minute of it, and being at UNC Charlotte was one of the best experiences of his life. It was also during this time that Zack became best friends with Steven Sides, and the two have remained so for the past nine years. After graduating with honors with two degrees from the greatest university in the world in 2009, Zack was flying high. To make things even better, he got accepted to a graduate program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, a wonderful school in a very beautiful, oceanside city. He graduated in 2012 with a Masters in Literature. His Masters thesis was called "'Taking The Goosebumps Out of Goosebumps: R.L. Stine and Contradictory Gender Epistemologies in the Postmodern Children's Serial." Later on, R.L. Stine personally confirmed the argument of Zack's thesis, validating him as a scholar. Beginnings at Georgia State PhD Program While finishing up his thesis, Zack began applying to PhD programs. After using a complicated algorithmic process that involved selecting the schools that offered him a job/free tuition and picking the one that wasn't in the middle of nowhere, Zack accepted the offer to be a PhD student and instructor at Georgia State University. In the Summer between getting his Masters and beginning his PhD, he worked at Gold Buyers at the Mall because that's the only thing a Masters in Literature qualifies you to do outside of the womb of academia. Actually, he barely got that job, which he found advertised on Craigslist. Speaking of Craigslist, that's also where Zack found the listing for his new Georgian home in East Point, a suburb of Atlanta that was voted America's most dangerous suburb in USA Today ''that very year. Most importantly, that was the year that Zack met Elisha. For more on that story, head over to How We Met Each Other. The Rest of the Year Overall, the rest of that year was relatively uneventful. Zack spent most of his time walking to and from trains stations, reading, and waving markers around at his students. He eventually bumped into Elisha in the hallway, which eventually led to their relationship. Second Year at GSU By the time the second year of his PhD program began, Zack and Elisha had begun dating. He decided to make 20th Century American Poetry his field of study, fended off shunka warakins, and refined his marker waving. Despite this year being filled to the brim with stories, there is surprisingly little to tell. That's what happens when things are going well. Elisha and Zack Move in Together Summer after sophomore year, Zack and Elisha found a lovely little apartment and moved in together. They have been living together ever since and couldn't be happier. Like I said before, there is surprisingly little to say when things are going well. Third Year at GSU Continuing with the theme, there really is not much to tell about year three. Zack and Elisha continued being happy, and school continued going well. Zack chose a dissertation director and took his comprehensive exams, which went swimmingly. Proposal To read about the proposal, please visit Our Engagement Story. Fun Facts! * His favorite kind of novelty soda is Mountain Dew Livewire. * His favorite Disney movie is ''Alice in Wonderland. * His favorite poet is Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and his favorite book is 200 different books and he will not pick one because he will spend all night trying to decide which one to use and then regret it and change it the next day and so on and so on until the day of the wedding. * He used to have a video blog on Youtube (don't try to find it...it's been taken down) (That's a lie! He just does not want you to find it. Now go, man, go!), and, one time, he made a video about an upcoming Mandy Moore concert that he was excited about. At the meet and greet after the concert, Mandy Moore recognized him from the video, which means that he was once in Mandy Moore's internet search history. She also gave him a hug and signed his Mandy Moore Fan Club membership card. * Zack and Elisha have seen and ranked all 55 animated Disney classics. * When Zack was a little boy, he wanted to be a dinosaur. * Zack routinely eats two and a half bowls of cereal, which has been dubbed "The Zack Special."